NYPD: Part of 9/11 plane's landing gear discovered

Part of 9/11 plane's landing gear. Photo courtesy of the New York Police Department.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Part of 9/11 plane's landing gear. Photo courtesy of the New York Police Department.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK - A piece of landing gear believed to be from one of the planes destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks has been discovered wedged between a New York City mosque site and another building.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said Friday the part includes a Boeing identification number. Police haven't said how big the part is.

Browne says the piece was discovered Wednesday by surveyors inspecting the lower Manhattan site of a planned Islamic community center on behalf of the building's owner. He says the inspectors called 911 and police have secured the scene, documenting it with photos.

Police say the medical examiner's office will complete a health and safety evaluation to determine whether to sift the soil around the buildings for possible human remains.

Two hijacked planes slammed into the nearby World Trade Center towers in 2001, killing thousands of people.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.